Service providers who had provided their services in the last general elections and were not paid turned up this morning at the Electoral Commission office.
Joe Lat, David Akipa and Tetias Narina were three of the many service providers that Loop PNG caught up with outside the Electoral Commission office.
They claimed that the Electoral Commission is yet to pay them for the services they provided in the 2012 National Election.
“There are good number of us who provided services for the 2012 Elections and it’s not just us, here in NCD but other provinces as well.”
Tetias Narina who had flown in from East Highlands says he had come to Port Moresby in 2014 to receive his payment but was only given a quarter of it and until today is yet to receive the rest of his payment.
They claimed that they have been going back and forth from the Electoral Commission office and have been told to come back the next day by the Commission staff.
“We have told to come back the next day for the last three to four years,” David Akipa said.
Most of them say they are still interested in providing their service for this year’s elections but how they can so if the Electoral Commission hasn’t paid them. They added that they have lost money and resources and would like to be paid as soon as possible by the Electoral Commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement made by the Electoral Commissioner last October, many claims however, did not come with a formal approval process from the Electoral Commission.
This has resulted in countless legal battles.
Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato stated that the threshold for payments to service providers by the Commission is K500, 000.
Anything higher than the specified amount will go through the Central Supply & Tender’s Board and to the Minister responsible, for approval.